Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

I started politics out of passion to get involved in what I call upstream tackling of poverty. As a medical practitioner, I came face to face with poverty in crude form. I saw children who died because their parents at that time could not afford to buy one pint of blood. I saw children die of diarrhoea. I remember those harrowing cries of the mothers when they lost those children. I decided somewhere along the line that even if I do free medical services for everybody, I could not afford to give to everybody that wanted it. I said perhaps, to influence the majority of the people, it’s better to get involved at the policy level – what I call the upstream sector – by getting involved in politics and using the power from politics to impact on lives.

Read the full interview, from Olukorede Yishau, Nation

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Dr Mimiko speaks on why he wants to lead the people of Ondo state to greater heights:

“You go to a town of 4,000 people, a government would come there, you see one miserable looking borehole there as sign of their achievement, yet in the vicinity you have at least 10 perennial streams. All you need is the technical know-how, get a technical man, get the community to contribute their sweat, and create a dam for them, which they will own…They don’t want a man that would go there and make his brother chief of staff, make his wife’s sister SA Protocol, and make his son a key figure on the revenue in the state. They are looking for character and experience, like I have.”

The Interview in full: Ondo is looking for someone to trust, says Mimiko by Idowu Ajanaku Guardian

HOW have you merged your acceptability with your structure on ground in Ondo State?

Some people have asked me how a relatively unknown party be the vehicle to deliver a governor within the time frame. We are present in every village, town and hamlets in Ondo. I want to say that LP is bigger than PDP and the other parties put together in Ondo. We have structures on ground, functional structures that can be the machinery for redeeming of votes.

What are your chances against the incumbent?

Incumbency carries its own inherent encumbrance. You have a governor who has been there for almost four years so you can tackle him on the basis of what he’s been able to achieve. So to us that has been positive. It is a question of looking at the approximate resources that has accrued to this state, measure that against what is on ground.

The question is whether this is the type of performance that you desire or that will take your state out of the doldrums. Because of the support from the people, their passion for change will upset whatever incumbency advantages the government has. We will also exploit the incumbency advantages that would accrue to us because we are now asking people to assess his reforms.

Do you see rigging as a problem?

There are different levels of rigging, one is the rigging that take place at the polling booth or somebody sensing that his party has not performed very well, carries the box and runs away hoping that INEC would cancel the result of that particular unit. We have men on ground for each polling booth, we will inform people to ensure that nobody does anything funny. I must say that for an unpopular incumbent that we have in Ondo, it is a no-win situation.

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…Gov Agagu seized party register, first kept it in his office, later in his house By Kayode Fasua Sun Publishing

For one widely known as Iroko, a personification of the resilient king of the wood-Iroko tree-Olusegun Rahman Mimiko walks with the strides of the sure-footed. Mimiko, Ondo State governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and a medic, now contends with crowd of supporters and admirers, which have been thronging his Ondo countryhome since last year, when he gave breathe to his governorship ambition.

Until he joined the race to Alagbaka Government House, Akure, Mimiko was the Minister for Housing and Urban Development under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Federal Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Conversant with grassroots politics, Mimiko, before his brief stint as Minister, was the Secretary to the Ondo State Government (SSG) under Governor Olusegun Agagu.

Before then, he had served twice as Commissioner for Health in the state, first under former Governor Bamidele Olumilua of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and afterwards in the Alliance for Democracy (AD) administration of ex-governor Adebayo Adefarati. In this interview, Mimiko unveiled real reason for his defecting from the PDP to the LP. He also explains why he wants Agagu’s job through the April 14 governorship elections.

Excerpts:

I will like you to enlighten members of the public on the circumstances that led to your leaving the ruling PDP and how you became the governorship candidate of the Labour Party?

Thank you very much. I left because the leadership of the party (PDP) at the state level sabotaged the internal mechanism for democratic change or for a process for emergence of alternatives within the party. Even, during the review of membership registration, he did not only make it difficult for people he perceived could be loyal to any other prospective gubernatorial aspirant…

You mean the governor?

Yes. The governor. And the register of the party, which was supposed to be in the custody of the party Executive, he actually kept in his office, later in his house. Nobody had access to the register. There was no way a level playing ground would have been provided in the PDP. We complained about this situation. There was the reconciliation committee of Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd). People with tendencies other than that of the governor made representation. He was instructed to release the register so that people could register. He kept on. He kept to the register. He did not release it.
Even the chairman of the party (PDP) and the state secretary of the party, who incidentally are in Labour Party, now, had no access to the register (laugh)
So, in that type of ridiculous situation, there was no question of trying to engage in any form of competition with the governor. And we decided to leave. Our leaving was essentially to prevent a major crisis within the party.

Read more on Sun News Online

I’m Not OBJ’s Attack Dog – Ribadu. This News Cover Story by Ademola Adegbamigbe. Excerpts:

Q: The President went to Ondo State the other day and he talked about Olusegun Mimiko, a candidate who is contesting the Ondo State gubernatorial position on the platform of Labor Party. He specifically said he will send the EFCC after him. Is EFCC now an attack dog of the President?
A: No, but the President is entitled to his opinion just like other Nigerians. You can say somebody has a case to answer and you can freely say it. Nobody can stop you from voicing your opinion. I do not think what the President said has anything to do with what we are doing. And if you look at it critically, is that name in the list that you saw?

Q: But do you not think that statement is portraying the EFCC as a dog which can be ordered to do the bidding of the President?
A: Are you saying he is not entitled to his opinion? Or he cannot complain? If he has an issue with a candidate, can’t he complain? Don’t you even give him credit for being honest enough to make it public? If the genuine intention was to stop the candidate, he would not have said it in public. So, people are just capitalising on every incident to make an unnecessary case. For your information, we don’t have anything against Mimiko.

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Related article: Mimiko’s supporters hail Ribadu’s clearance

Interview with Niyi Bello of The Guardian, Febuary 12, 2007

Dr. Rahman Olusegun Mimiko, former minister of Housing and Urban Development and governorship flagbearer of the Labour Party in Ondo State, told NIYI BELLO of The Guardian how the opposition would dethrone the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming polls. Excerpt:

WHAT is your reaction to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s allegation, last week that you soiled your hand while serving as a minister under him?

I don’t want to join issues with the President. The best thing is to keep mum. No comment! [Read Mimiko's response to President Obasanjo's allegationon Thisday]

What are your chances and that of the Labour Party in Ondo State in the coming polls?

I am ready in terms of the structure that Labour Party has on ground. Labour Party is about two months old in Ondo State but you can check this out. With all sense of modesty we are already bigger than the Peoples Democratic Party. Before the election, we will probably be bigger than all the parties put together. We are already in every home, every hamlet, every village, every political ward and every town. We are strong and we are on ground.

We are not only strong in terms of number we are also strong in terms of commitment to the people and ensuring that the next election produces a change in the government of Ondo State. So we are prepared in terms of the structure that will deliver the votes.

I am also psychologically prepared to take over the mantle of leadership in the state. I have been in and out of government in this state. I know the problems. I have lived with the people and I know their problems. I have worked with them and I know where the shoe pinches. Now with all sense of modesty, I think I have enough experience and social commitment to proffer workable solutions to ensure the rapid transformation of Ondo State.

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